The chief executive of New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra says the risk of people contracting botulism from infant formula made with the company's whey concentrate has ended.

Speaking at a news conference in Auckland, Theo Spierings said that all supplies of the potentially contaminated infant formula had been removed from the international market, and there was almost no risk for consumers now. Spierings said the 18 metric tons of potentially contaminated whey protein concentrate had been turned into 23-hundred tons of infant formula.

But he assured the public that the company had successfully contained or recalled all of the tainted products. Fonterra is the world's largest dairy exporter. Spierings recently returned from China, where he was doing damage control in the company's key market.

"The situation is under control so our team in China is working on their business as normal and they are still on the same planning and track. Fonterra has taken their responsibility in the last four to five days. Fonterra will investigate why it happened. Fonterra will keep everybody in the loop and informed, like I just said, of our findings. And we do hope that we have created more clarity here today and that this clear information will reach the public because that will determine the reputation of New Zealand and Fonterra," Theo Spierings said.